How Exactly Does SEO Help My Business

How Exactly Does SEO Help My Business

Q&A

From a marketing standpoint, your URL shouldn't be awkwardly long where it won't fit properly in advertising, on promo items, etc?

Yes! Great point! When thinking about urls, you want users to easily understand and be able to use that urls and you want it to clearly define what someone will get when they go to that page.

Can you explain more or give more steps on the buzz word: "Optimize your website"?

Optimizing your website is making changes to your website that will increase it's searchability for users and search engines to help you rank for specific keywords. Colton is reviewing a few "optmization tips" that you can do to help make your site more searchable and valuable to your user and to search engines.

How important is using keyword in the url itself?

I know if you can work your keyword into the url without it feeling super unnatural, then it definitely helps. However, that page will need to remain focused on that keyword so the page content will always reflect the keyword in the url. We will cover this topic more in detail over the webinar recording.

I would like a few more specifics on what is meant by building links?

This is such a frequently asked question, I think we'll make a webinar topic out of it in the future! Until then, in summary - link building is what we often refer to as "offsite optimization." Both offsite optimization and link building refer to building relationships with other, authoritative websites who will gladly share a link to your website or content on your website. Link building can include listing your website on local directories such as the Better Business Bureau or local community websites that make sense for your business, as well as listing your website on Google Maps, Apple Maps, Yelp and other directory services. Link building can also mean press releases, appearing in content displayed on other's websites such as blog posts, articles, and videos, and having other professionals you share content with link back to you.

What's a good timeline projection for SEO success?

The thing to remember is SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. So, if you are actively optimizing your site and creating content for SEO purposes, we generally say it take 6-9 months to see relevant results from SEO work. You may start to see improvement in the first 1-2 months, but you will not likely see massive improvement until you have been doing SEO work for 6 months+.

Do the "DIY" websites, built online by the different web hosting services - are they less SEO-friendly than sites built by a pro company using code?

Depending on who you go with for a template website, you can have a variety of experiences. Some templates are really heavy on code or what developers like to call "bad code" which Google recognizes. Google and other search engines will fault your website for a "bad HTML to content" ratio which means that the amount of code used to create your website is substantially greater than the content you're providing on your website. It is important to work with a website professional that understands this, and regardless of what template service you use, it is entirely up to you as to how much content you provide on your website and whether or not the written content and images within your site are fully optimized to be considered "SEO-friendly."

Any tips for a two language website? We are consultants in Latin America and the United States so have Spanish and English speaking prospects.

Absolutely. Google has a plethora of information that pertains to how to properly identify your website as a multi-language site. In recent years, some simple meta tags that identified the variations in language was enough for search engines to be satisfied, but as more websites are built each day, algorithms have to change as well. We highly recommend this link from Google to be fully informed on today's standards: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/182192?hl=en

How advantageous is it to hire a copywriter to create web content?

If you do not feel confident in creating strong content for your base pages on your website (homepage, about us, contact, etc.) then it would be worth your time and money to hire someone to tackle those pages for you. A good copywriter can turn around unique, keyword-centered content for your website in less time than it will take most business owners or non-SEO professionals to do the keyword research in relation to your product on website goals.

Eric, Sioux City. I am wondering if there is a good online tool for seeing if my website is being penalized by google or on any pages in particular? And details on why?

Absolutely! Google! Google will speak directly to you and notify you have penalties, but only if you have Google Search Console setup. For directions on how to setup and start using Google Search Console watch our free videos here: http://go.boostability.com/boost-u/google-training

Having keywords in your domain (for example the word INNOVATION in an innovation blog) helps? do TLD's help or give worst results?

This is a tricky situation. Search Engines don't like anything that could be keyword stuffing. However, if your business is called "Utah Top Plumbing" Google understands why you might have what looks like three keywords in your URL (ex. UtahTopPlumbing.com). If your blog is called Innovation or has the word Innovation in it and that is evident in your blog title/title tags, the URL will be considered "natural" by search engines.

Any thought on importance of having "Responsive" website?

This is a very good question! "Responsive" websites are definitely a fad and a buzzword we all hear. However, not all responsive web templates are good for your SEO. While search engines no longer say you have to have a certain amount of content or keywords on a page for your page to be considered relevant, it is still statistically true that websites with 2000+ words on a page relevant to one topic are most often seen in top search results. That being said, responsive design when it comes to mobile-optimized design is absolutely a must for SEO today. There is no question that you need to have a mobile-friendly website that is viewable on a variety of tablets and phones. However, when referring to responsive design (UI/UX design versus SEO), most websites are not going to benefit from "scrolling sites" that appear to have very minimal amounts of content on each page. If you have a business product or service, you'll likely benefit from much more content on every page of your website. If your entire website is centered around one product with your blog as the core, having a minimalistic responsive design will work for you. The reason we get into both aspects of this answer is simply that responsive design means two things and we want to make sure we cover both the aspects of minimalistic design as well as the undeniable importance of mobile-friendly design.

Can we change the sitemap from monthly to weekly without losing analytical data?